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Old 11th January 2024, 11:55 AM   #19
A. G. Maisey
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Join Date: May 2006
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I have always found it useful to know what a word actually means when I try to understand something.

The words that Gustav has given us are worth a second look.

The word "tepi" means the edge, border or boundary of something --- a pretty good restaurant in Peliatan in Bali called "Bebek Tepi Sawah" = "Duck at the edge of the Rice field".

The word "tepen" comes from "tepi" and it means to have decorative edging. It is not a noun.

HH does use both "wengkon" & "tepen" , he does not list either wengkon or tepen in his list of pamors, but underneath a picture of wengkon pamor that he names as pamor "Tepen" & then brackets (wengkon) after it. The way this presented on P.201 of KJ it seems to me that he prefers "Tepen" but refers to "wengkon" so others will know what he is writing about.

But we need to look closely at the word "wengkon".

The word "wengkon" comes from "wengku", this word has two ways of being understood, firstly as a frame, ie, "picture frame", & secondly as "power".

The word "wewengkon" = "a large territory of power", by "large", we are thinking in terms of a region or province, for example "Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta" = "The Special Region of Jogjakarta"

In Balinese the word "wengkon" is a contraction of "wengku-an", & this means "a region or province".

In Old Javanese we find "wengkon" as "wengka (wengko)", meaning "a district or region", the word probably comes into Old Javanese from Kawi, perhaps originally taken from Sanskrit.

"Tepi" also occurs in Old Javanese, but this word appears not to have acquired the derivative of "tepen" at that point in time.

In Surakarta the Pamor Wengkon is used in keris & tombak that are/were given to a newly appointed Bupati, by the Susuhunan. The purpose of the gift is/was to serve as a constant reminder to the Bupati that he has power (& responsibility) for the province or region that he has been appointed to govern.

When we understand the meanings of the word "wengkon" it is not at all difficult to understand the reason for its name:- it is a physical representation of both the province that the Bupati has responsibility for, & his power over it.

The keris is regarded as royal art, thus if the pamor wengkon is the name of this pamor in the Karaton Surakarta, then in Surakarta this must be accepted as the correct name for the pamor.

However, as I have mentioned in other places, keris terminology is not fixed, so if somebody else wants to use a descriptor as a name for the pamor motif, then of course, they may, but by doing so they ignore the traditional understandings of the name "Pamor Wengkon".

The way these understandings were explained to me was that the wengkon itself represented the protection of the Bupati, & the area within the wengkon represented his province & people whom he must protect.

Sorry for being so long winded, but there are lots & lots of misunderstandings associated with the keris, and regrettably they all require about as many words --- or more --- than I have used here, to be clarified.
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